Fuel Economy and Auto Safety Don't Mix; Clean Air Bill

Published: October 3, 1990

To the Editor:

While you promote the advantages of Senator Richard A. Bryan's bill on fuel efficiency (''The Second-Best Way to Save Gas,'' editorial, Sept. 20) to help reduce our dependence on imported oil, you fail to note the energy security benefits we can derive from another measure before Congress: the clean air reauthorization bill.

The clean air bill is every bit as much of a ''potent prescription that at a single stroke would slash America's dependence on foreign oil, trim the trade deficit, roll back smog and avert global warming.''

A recent analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency found that if the clean air bill were enacted, the expanded use of alternative fuels would displace some 500,000 to 1.5 million barrels of oil a day - roughly as much oil as had been exported from Kuwait and Iraq.

All this while also expanding the use of oxygenated fuels, such as ethanol, which will help clean up air pollution in our major cities.

It is rare that policy makers have an opportunity to enact legislation that can simultaneously achieve two major national goals: environment quality and energy security. The clean air bill is just such a measure, and there's nothing second best about that.